CBS Buys ‘American Gothic’ Drama From Corinne Brinkerhoff & Amblin TV

CBS has put in development American Gothic, a family mystery drama from former Good Wife writer-producer Corinne Brinkerhoff and Amblin TV. CBS TV Studios, where Brinkerhoff is under an overall deal, is the studio.

Written/exec produced by Brinkerhoff, American Gothic — not related to the 1995 CBS series or the Grant Wood painting — centers on a prominent Boston family who, in the wake of a chilling discovery that implicates their recently deceased patriarch in a series of murders spanning decades, struggles to redefine itself, all under the mounting suspicion that one of them may have been his accomplice. James Frey and Todd Cohen of Full Fathom Five, where the idea for the project originated, also executive produce, along with Amblin TV’s Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank.

Brinkerhoff has ties to Beantown. She studied television at Boston University’s School of Communication. On a BU spring break alumni-networking trip in 2003, she met with alum David E. Kelley, landing an internship at his DEK Productions, which led to a job as his personal assistant. While working as an assistant, Brinkerhoff pitched ideas for Kelley’s drama Boston Legal. She ended up writing a spec that became a much talked-about episode centering on a pregnant teen’s lawsuit against a Catholic hospital where she was refused emergency contraception while treated for rape.

Next for Brinkerhoff was a staff writing job on CBS/CBS Studios drama The Good Wife. Her three-year stint on the legal drama, during which she moved up the ranks, landed her an overall deal with CBS Studios. As part of that, she worked as co-executive producer on the studio’s CBS mystery drama Elementary. She is now switching genres, serving as a co-executive on CBS Studio’s new CW dramedy Jane The Virgin. Brinkerhoff, repped by UTA and attorney Peter Nichols, actually has comedy background — she occasionally moonlights as a standup comedian.